Trading Zones? Art, Development and UNESCO’s Double Act as Cultural Patron and Elite Knowledge Producer

Drawing on empirical work derived from the ERC-funded project ‘Art and Policy in the Global Contemporary’ (2025-2030), this paper focuses on UNESCO and its boundary work as both the patron IO for art and culture and key knowledge producer for global sustainable development. Through the examination of three empirical examples, the paper will demonstrate the tricky but productive boundary space that UNESCO has treaded over the last half century: on the one hand, UNESCO has worked hard to maintain its position as the single and most powerful advocate of supporting culture and development as global public goods; on the other, given the relevance of its work to sustainable development, it has focused on validating its expert knowledge production through its engagement with the translation of aesthetic, cultural and indigenous knowledge making in relevant and usable expertise for the governance of global sustainability. The presentation will focus on an empirical analysis of the production of the Culture 2030 Indicators, to highlight the boundary work undertaken to envelop art and culture with the numerical inscriptions necessary to evidence their relevance to sustainable development. It will then move on to examine the translation of indigenous knowledge into frameworks that can support the governance of sustainability globally. Finally, I will examine the production of aesthetic knowledge by studying two art installations, supported by UNESCO, and exhibited at two different Conferences of the Parties (COP).